One of the report's most worrying findings was that the Co-op had no written Allocations Policy, which meant that it was not clear how people secured a place there or who was actually living there.

The cooperative called for a judicial review of the decision, but this was refused, with the court ruling in June 2003 that the housing should be sold to the Peabody Trust.

[5][6] In August 2005 the estate was statutorily transferred to the Peabody Trust, and was subsequently managed by Waltham Forest Community Based Housing Association.

[1] A group of tenants gained leave to hold a public inquiry into the decision to compulsorily purchase the estate, which was held in August 2006.

However it was reported that early movers found this was not the case, and some feared that dispersal to sites across East London would mean the end of the unusually close community links in the estate.

[9] There was further controversy when 11 'short life' tenants in the Peabody Nags Head estate were evicted to make way for residents displaced from Clays Lane.

The Guardian report also referred to an internal memorandum written by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority valuer and estates surveyor in 1972, that recommended that the ground over the waste should not be disturbed without further tests.

Estate residents, concerned that dangerous materials might be extracted, had unsuccessfully tried to secure a court injunction to stop ground tests being carried out before they were rehoused.